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The Amistad Story: Commemorating a Local Narrative

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The Amistad Story: Commemorating a Local Narrative Curriculum Units by Fellows of the Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute 2008 Volume III: Pride of Place: New Haven Material and Visual Culture The Amistad Story: Commemorating a Local Narrative Curriculum Unit 08.03.09 by Kristin Wetmore Introduction “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -- Margaret Mead Why should my students study the Amistad case? The answer is quite simple: it is a fascinating narrative for several reasons. In fact, it was really the first civil rights case in this country. It happened before the Civil War, at a time when black people had few rights, if any at all. It is a David and Goliath story, good vs. evil, right vs. wrong. The case illustrates how the people of New Haven came together for a just cause. It caught popular attention right from the start as is seen in the images published by John Warner Barber in 1840. “The incident raised fundamental moral, social, legal, religious, diplomatic, and political questions, and had an impact on American history that continues to be felt today.” 1 The case still has relevance today. Connecticut State Senator Toni N. Harp, D-10 was quoted as saying, “Americans should use the Amistad spirit to speak out against every attempt to curb freedom in the 21st century.” 2 According to “The Amistad Memorial brochure published by The Amistad Committee, Inc., “the triumph of the Amistad teaches us one of the most important lessons of our time: together we can overcome all odds and strengthen our mutual needs for freedom and quality of life.” Curriculum Unit 08.03.09 1 of 18 Narrative The story began in Sierra Leone in 1839. Fifty three members of the Mende tribe were kidnapped and taken to the island of Lomboko. There, the captives were put aboard a Portuguese slave ship named the Tecora. On board, were approximately 500 Africans that would be taken to Havana, Cuba to be sold. 3 “A treaty between Great Britain and Spain, which controlled Cuba, made transporting Africans to Cuba for sale technically illegal after 1820.” 4 This did not stop the African’s from being sold with false documentation. Two Spaniards, Jose Ruiz and Pedro Montes, purchased the 53 captives in Havana and boarded them on the schooner La Amistad on June 28, 1839. The captives were to be transported to the other end of Cuba, a voyage that should have taken three days. Cinque (also known at Singbe) was the unofficial leader of the group. He was able to use a loose nail to break free of the shackles and then freed the others. Next, there came a mutiny. The Africans killed the captain and most of the crew. Ruiz and Montes were kept alive so that they could sail the boat back to Africa. “Cinque had observed that the Tecora had sailed toward the setting sun as it took them away from Africa. To return to Africa, he reasoned, the Amistad should head toward the rising sun.” 5 Ruiz and Montes sailed east during the day, but at night turned the boat west, back towards the United States. For weeks, the schooner zigzagged up the coast towards New England. On August 26 the USS Washington of the U.S. Navy intercepted the schooner about a mile off the coast of Long Island. Ruiz and Montes were only able to give their side of the story and the Africans as well as the vessel were taken to New London. The 53 Africans were transported to the Jail in New Haven. 6 The supposition is that the navy took the schooner and the captives to Connecticut rather than New York for one simple reason. “Slavery was legal in Connecticut and not in New York, which meant the salvage rights to slave property, would not be considered in New York courts. 7 The Amistad’s cargo and the captives themselves would have been worth $60,000 in 1839. The Captain and crew of the USS Washington thus would have had a right to the salvage under Connecticut law, but not under New York law. 8 There were several issues that needed to be settled by the courts. “The Africans had to be defended (1) against claims by the U.S. Navy, who seized the boat and wanted claims against the property (2) the Spanish owners who wanted the slaves and property back, and (3) against murder and mutiny charges.” 9 Also at question was the Anglo-Saxon Treaty of 1817, which outlawed slave trade in Spain and its colonies, including Cuba. 10 “The essential issue throughout the affair was a conflict between human rights and property rights -- whether natural law as the abolitionists defined it was to take precedence over what they regarded as positive, man- made law.” 11 This was because the Circuit court judge, Smith Thompson, “preferred to evade the larger debate over abolition and rested his decision on jurisdictional grounds.” 12 Yale Professor Josiah Gibbs was part of the group of New Haven abolitionists dedicated to helping the Africans legally and financially. Professor Gibbs found two Mende speakers on the docks in New York. James Covey, a freed slave from Sierra Leone, and Charles Pratt, a native of Mende who had also been enslaved by a Spanish slave trader. 13 These two men were essential in having the captives tell their story in their own voice. Curriculum Unit 08.03.09 2 of 18 The Africans went through three rounds of court proceedings. The first was in the Circuit Court in Hartford in September 1839. During this time, the Africans were held in the Hartford jail. They were transported to Hartford, on barges by way of the Farmington Canal. The Farmington canal line ran from New Haven, through Farmington, to Northampton, Massachusetts. The second was in the District Court in New Haven in January 1840. The appeal reached the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington D.C. in February of 1841. Finally, on March 9, 1840 the U.S. Supreme Court issued the verdict that the Africans were free men. The story does not end there. The thirty-six remaining Africans were again transported along the canal line to Farmington to live while abolitionists raised money for their return to Sierra Leone. Farmington’s many abolitionist residents took an interest in the case during their trials in New Haven and Hartford. Finally, in November of 1841, The Gentleman sailed from New York to return the Africans to Sierra Leone. Reception There has been an ebb and flow of popular interest in the Amistad case. The public’s interest has been motivated by various reasons. At the time of the first trial, when the Africans were being held in the New Haven jail, they were treated as a tourist attraction. “The jailer charged ‘one New York shilling’ (about 12 cents) for a look at the captives. The Africans also attracted scientific interest. A phrenologist examined the captives and took ‘life masks’ which were later put on public display.” 14 Phrenology is the antiquated “study of the conformation of the skull based on the belief that it is indicative of mental faculties and character”. 15 In 1840, John Warner Barber published a pamphlet of the case, A History of the Amistad Captives. Included in this were several engravings. One engraving, “Death of Captain Ferrer, The Capture of the Amistad” shows the violent death of the Captain at the hands of the Africans. Wax figures of the Africans went on tour. The figures spent several weeks in Peale’s Museum in New York City. 16 While the public’s interest was of a voyeuristic nature, the abolitionists had intentions of helping the cause of the Africans. Their efforts included an event at the Broadway Tabernacle in New York City that displayed the African’s accomplishments. 17 Interior of a Slave Ship from John Warner Barber’s A History of the Amistad Captives , 1840, New Haven Museum and Historical Society 18 Curriculum Unit 08.03.09 3 of 18 Death of Captain Ferrer, The Capture of the Amistad from John Warner Barber’s A History of the Amistad Captives , 1840, New Haven Museum and Historical Society 19 In opposition to the circus-like atmosphere that surrounded the captives, was the portrait of Cinque by Nathaniel Jocelyn. The portrait, painted in 1840, was the first depiction of an African as more than just a slave. Cinque is portrayed in a classical white toga, holding a staff. This pose was usually reserved for “heroic white figures.” 20 Because of the content of the painting, the Artist Fund Society of Philadelphia refused to exhibit the portrait in its annual exhibition. They claimed that ‘to display it might prove injurious both to the proprietors and the institution.’ Outraged, Jocelyn resigned his membership in the Society.” 21 Cinque by Nathaniel Jocelyn, circa 1840 New Haven Museum and Historical Society 22 After the Africans returned to Sierra Leone, interest in the case declined. It was not until the twentieth century that we see another depiction of the Amistad case in New Haven. New Haven became home to several murals funded by the Federal Arts Project during the 1930s. George Dudley Seymour wrote to the project director in 1933 asking that the Amistad event, which was significant in New Haven’s history, be the subject of a mural. Instead of referencing the historical debate between slavery and abolitionism, or the legal debate that sent the case to the Supreme Court, Theodore Sizer chose to depict the African captives on the New Haven Green performing for the crowds.
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